Eagle Cam Web Log

Eaglet Changes

First, we want to give an update on the cam: As we mentioned a week ago, we are working with an eagle expert from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to evaluate whether or not anything can be done to safely reposition the cam since it was accidentally pushed down a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, the rain and thunder in the last couple days has delayed any resolution to the problem, so we're still working on it at this time. Thanks for your patience.

Based on the wonderful photos sent in by our cam watchers, we can see that the eaglets' bodies are rapidly changing. Some of the most notable differences that we've seen in the last three weeks include the following:

• Yellow Feet -- the eaglets' feet are becoming noticeably larger and more yellow like the adults
• Sharper Beaks -- the eaglets' beaks are becoming bigger and sharper as they approach the time when they'll be able to tear off food by themselves
• Grayish Down -- the chicks fluffy, light-colored down is now being replaced with a thick darkish-gray, woolly down (also notice the growing tail in the photo)
• Moving Wings -- while we don't have a photo of wing movement, our cam technician said that when you watch the eaglets on the video monitor at the Refuge, you can see some small wing flapping as the eaglets slowly discover that those awkward appendages might actually be useful one day.

Thanks to all our cam watchers who watch the nests and take the time to send in their photos. Your efforts are what make our Galleries such a valuable resource.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Housekeeping

The eagles have occupied the nest for a few months now, and some cam watchers have asked about housekeeping at the nest now that the family has grown in size.

As most cam watchers have probably noticed, the tree trunk near the nest is often whitewashed with excrement. This is because, like ospreys, bald eagles eject their feces out of the nest, and sometimes it will hit the trunk, which is the largest object near them.

The eaglets will learn to eject their excrement as well. We have a photo from last year showing our osprey chicks learning to do it -- this is the basic posture. Shooting it out of the nest keeps the nest tidier, but sometimes the birds need to look where they're shooting -- check out this humorous photo showing an osprey who owes someone an apology.

As for the nest itself, it can get rather ripe with leftover fish and duck bits, as well as insects -- an unavoidable reality with so much dead food remaining in the nest. Our cam technician reports that recently he was watching the Eagle Cam on the TV video monitor at the Refuge and he saw that spiders were everywhere on the branches and nest. On the website cam images, the spiders are just tiny black spots, but on the moving video you can see the insects better.

Our cam technician also said that the video shows how the eaglets dig at bits of food that are scattered throughout the nest floor, and this is what often brings them closer to the trunk. Parents will often add new vegetation to the nest to freshen it up and to bury food remains.

In general, eagles are known to be very loyal to their nest sites, laying down a new foundation on top of the old nest year after year until the nest grows very large. But eagle scientists have noticed that some eagle pairs maintain multiple nesting sites, and that has led these scientists to speculate that the eagles might use a back-up nest in order to let the first one "air out."

[Side note: The monitor at the Refuge has the same view that we have of the eagles, but it's a video feed since the camera is on-site. The video allows them to see small details that we might miss with the still images.]

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Name the Eaglets

Our "Name the Eaglets Competition" will begin on Wednesday, March 23; the contest will run for 30 days, ending on April 23, 2005.

Registration will be at our partner site: WildCam.com. You will need to register to submit your names and to see what names are already taken, but registration is free, and WildCam will not share your email address with any third party. If you registered with WildCam a while back when our cam went down, you can use that registration information again.

You can submit as many names as you like for the three chicks, as long as the names have not been submitted by another person.

The staff at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland will choose the winners of the contest. Winners will receive a certificate and a special eagle surprise, as well as recognition on our website.

Check in on Wednesday at the WildCam.com home page and look for the contest link. And we hope you have fun picking out names for the eaglets!

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On another topic, several cam watchers have sent us links to some excellent eagle websites around the Internet. The following sites are definitely worth a visit when you're out surfing the Net:

National Geographic: Bald Eagles Come Back from the Brink: Follow photographer Norbert Rosing as he works on a photographic essay of the bald eagle in different parts of North America. This is a multimedia presentation with sights and sounds.

Cottonwood Bald Eagle Photography Collection: Visit this huge collection of bald eagle photographs from a popular bald eagle nest located in Texas. The fantastic galleries are full of great eaglet photographs and lots of nest action. Don't miss it.

Animal Planet: Bird Mini-Cams: Join scientists as they attach a mini-cam to Tilly the golden eagle and see the world through her eyes as she soars through the skies

National Wildlife Federation: Bald Eagle Course: Learn more about bald eagles by taking a free, short online course at Wildlife University, which is run by the National Wildlife Federation. One of their featured courses is on the American bald eagle.

Thanks to our cam watchers for suggesting these sites,
Lisa - webmaster

Two Cams

I've been told by our cam technician that we will go live with the Osprey Cam on Monday. The ospreys have not arrived yet, but they are expected soon.

When we go live with the Osprey Cam, several changes will occur. First, the Eagle Cam page will revert to the Osprey Cam. This is due to the fact that around the Internet that page is recognized as an Osprey Cam page, and we wish to keep it that way so the links remain good ones.

When it changes back to the Osprey Cam, we will post a link on that page telling you where to find the Eagle Cam. Once the switch is made, it will be permanent, so you can bookmark the pages as they will not change again. This is a one-time adjustment we need to make since we are putting two cams on the site simultaneously.

Also, as we mentioned earlier, the refresh rate on both pages will be expanded to 60 seconds. We have to expand the time so we can stay within the bandwidth limits of our satellite dish contract.

We don't anticipate any problems with the transition, but we ask for your patience as we work out any kinks that occur as we attempt to get both cams up and running on the website.

Much thanks,
Lisa - webmaster

State of the Cam - Pt. II

First, we want to thank our cam watchers for their wonderful patience as we've struggled with our less-than-perfect view on the Eagle Cam; it's been as frustrating for us as I'm sure it has been for you.

We have been in contact with an eagle specialist from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ask his advice and to get his assistance on fixing the cam -- this is someone who knows how to work around an active eagle nest with parents that have sharp talons and beaks. We hope to have the specialist evaluate the situation soon. We are still at the mercy of the weather and any unforeseen problems, but we are working with the appropriate authorities on a solution.

Also, we have an update on the Osprey Cam: Our equipment is set up and we're waiting on the ospreys. The cam pair does not normally return from South America until around the end of the month. Once they are here, it is our plan to have two separate cam pages -- one for the Eagle Cam and one for the Osprey Cam.

In order for us to carry both cams, we will have to expand the refresh rate on each cam page to 1 minute, so you'll see a new image every 60 seconds on each page. This is the only way we can carry two cams at one time given our satellite dish bandwidth limits. Please note that both cams will also be carried at WildCam.com, our partner site (their cams will have the same view and same timing as ours).

We got a lot of great photos today, so we'll update the Gallery at the beginning of the week. Thanks again for your photos, comments, and patience.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Bald Eagle Food

The father eagle has been bringing a multitude of fish and ducks to the nest, which is a very good thing for the family because plentiful food means it's more likely that all three eaglets will survive to fledge.

As for the identity of the food, our ranger at the Refuge said that he thought at least one of the fish was a gizzard shad, which are popular with both ospreys and eagles at the Refuge. Like ospreys, bald eagles target fish near the surface -- the ones that are in reach of their talons.

As for the ducks, it's been harder to tell what species they are, but we think we've seen several mallards, which are common ducks at Blackwater Refuge and would not be hard for the father eagle to find.

There's also the possibility that the father eagle has found some of his food already dead on the ground. Bald eagles are not opposed to eating carrion.

And another possibility is that the father eagle has stolen his food from another bird. Bald eagles have the somewhat dubious reputation of being thieves when it comes to collecting their next meal. They will steal food from other bald eagles, and they will also steal fish from ospreys. To read more about the sometimes battlesome relationship between ospreys and bald eagles, visit this post in our Osprey Cam Web Log from last year.

Just an FYI: Historical accounts tell us that in 1782, founding father Ben Franklin objected to the bald eagle as America's national symbol because the eagle stole food from other birds. Although Franklin characterized the bald eagle as "lazy," others have described it as opportunistic and skillful at saving its energy.

Eaglet Body Heat

Temperature regulation is an important issue for the young eaglets. In the book, "The Bald Eagle: Haunts and Habits of a Wilderness Monarch" the two authors explain why:

"There is almost always at least one adult on the nest for the first two weeks of nestling life. During that time, the chicks cannot regulate their own body temperature and so must be kept warm by the adults. Quite commonly, a chick will rest at its parent's breast, and in the first ten days at least, the adult may pull dried grass on top of the little bird. Young chicks may also be covered with grass when an adult is about to leave the nest. Eaglets are never left unattended for long. Though they may not be on the nest proper, the adults are never far away."

We can see evidence of this very behavior in our terrific photo Gallery. Right before the third chick was born, we saw one of the parents cover the chicks with grass.

In addition, at least two times since their birth, we've seen a chick peeking out from under the mother's breast at night. Both scenes are good examples of ways in which the parents are regulating body temperature.

Temperature regulation is also a reason why we can't go up and reposition the camera at this time. Our efforts to fix the camera will flush the mother and father away from the nest for at least a short period, during which time the vulnerable chicks will not have the protection they need. As the chicks age, they will eventually become more capable of protecting themselves from the elements.

Chick Development

After seeing the eagle nest wallpaper we posted a couple days ago, some cam watchers asked how the eaglets will change as they grow. Below is a series of four shots showing major stages in a bald eaglet's path to adulthood -- as the chick loses its fluffy down, grows its feathers, and eventually takes on the distinctive coloring of its parents. Click on the thumbnails below for larger photos.

The eaglets weigh about four ounces at birth, and soon they'll be gaining that much weight every day. And in 10-12 weeks, when the eaglets are ready to fledge or fly, they'll be almost as big as their parents.

Immature bald eagles will not develop the distinctive all-white head and brown body of the adult until about 4-5 years of age. During this transition period, the immature bald eagle will sport a brown and white mottling on its feathers that sometimes causes people to incorrectly identify them as golden eagles in areas where the two coexist.

State of the Cam

As our loyal cam watchers know, on Tuesday morning it appeared that something hit the eagle nest camera. We have several theories as to what caused the cam to move. The wind was very strong on Tuesday morning, so it could have been the wind itself, or the father eagle being misdirected by the wind causing him to land on the cam, or a branch breaking off the tree and hitting the cam on the way down.

Right now our eagle experts at the Refuge say it's too sensitive a time to go up and reposition the cam. Our top priority is the eagle family. We will not do anything that will make the parents nervous or interfere with their raising of the three chicks. Eagles can be very sensitive, especially when young are in the nest, and spooking them is not an option.

When our Osprey Cam was live, we were able to go up and adjust the camera even with osprey chicks in the nest -- but the ospreys are much more obliging than eagles when it comes to humans visiting the nest, so we are limited in what we can do at this stage.

At this time the plan is to keep broadcasting the eagles with the hope that we will get to see the eagle young as they grow and move around the nest. We plan to reevaluate the situation in a few weeks when the chicks are bigger. If the eagle experts at the Refuge say it's safe to go up, then we'll try to reposition the camera. And that's where we stand at the moment regarding the eagles.

For those who enjoyed our Osprey Cam in the past, we are working to go live again in a couple weeks as the ospreys are beginning to return from South America. We plan to offer the Osprey Cam again on this website for the fifth year in a row. In the last four years, we've seen six osprey chicks raised and fledged, and as our cam watchers know, ospreys are very entertaining raptors -- much like eagles -- so be sure to watch for that (visit our Osprey page for links to the previous Galleries).

We greatly appreciate your support, your photos, and your comments regarding our Eagle Cam. We will continue to post updates here and on the cam page for as long as we can observe our eagle family.

As for photos, you can continue to email them. We'll update the Gallery in a few days with photos taken right before and after the third eaglet was born. One of our last shots of him can be seen in the photo at the top of the page, which was taken on Tuesday morning.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

(Eagle Nest wallpaper for our cam watchers)

Third Chick

Right now we're watching the condition of the third chick. He's a little late to the party, but his incubation period was not unusually long. For those keeping a scorecard, here is the final tally:

First Chick
Egg laid - 01/25/05
Egg hatched - 03/02/05
Incubation - 36 days

Second Chick
Egg laid - 01/28/05
Egg hatched - 03/04/05
Incubation - 35 days

Third Chick
Egg laid - 01/31/05
Egg hatched - 03/07/05
Incubation - 35 days

The first chick born into a nest always has an advantage because it's first in the pecking order (tends to feed first). Our second eaglet was only about two days behind the first, so the two oldest eaglets appear close in size. The third chick was five days behind the oldest eaglet, so we'll keep an eye on the third chick, and see how he manages.

Parents' Feeding Method

Many birds regurgitate food for their young, but eagle parents actually tear off small bits of food and gently place them in the eaglet's mouth. The only regurgitation adults do is to expel small pellets of undigestable food (like fins and feathers).

When someone mentions pellets, most folks think of owl pellets, but eagle pellets aren't as "interesting" as owl pellets. Owl pellets sometimes have the entire skeleton of the animal they ate inside. Eagles have strong stomach acids, so small bones are not usually found in eagle pellets. Also, eagles tend to pluck their prey more than owls do when eating.

As for the eagle chicks, after a few weeks they'll be able to tear off the food for themselves, and Mom won't have to do all the work.

Parents & Hatching

Some cam watchers have written in to ask if the parents would help the chick break free when it has difficulties hatching. Most biologists would say no, that the parents will not help. But some recent studies say that's not always true.

The hatching process is a mysterious activity, and ornithologists are still making new discoveries about the complicated transition a chick goes through to free itself from the protected world of the shell. The egg provides for all the needs of the chick and is in fact a tiny center of life for over a month, but once hatching begins, the chick must make a difficult and exhausting break from its home.

To learn more about the latest discoveries concerning the hatching process, check out this interesting International Wildlife magazine article called "The Great Escape."

Intro and Chick Facts

Those who followed our Osprey Cam know that last year we used a web log to keep track of the cam action. Originally we decided not to do a web log for the Eagle Cam because this is our first year with the eagles and we didn't know if we would even see eggs. But now that we have an eagle family to watch, I've decided to go ahead and start a web log -- or blog -- for the eagles.

I'll continue to post info on the cam page, but the web log will be reserved for more expansive posts and answers to the most common questions we receive.

Below is our Chick Facts post, which some folks have found helpful. Now that we have it in the web log, it will be archived for anyone who wants to revisit the chick data at a future time.

Finally, much thanks to everyone for their patience and support while we moved to a more powerful server. From what we hear, the new server is holding up well, so the move was a good one.

If you registered at WildCam, keep your registration information because WildCam will be hosting our Chick-Naming Contest when it comes time to enter your names. Registration is not a requirement for entering the contest, but it will make things simpler if you already have a username and password there.

Chick Facts
Now that the parents have taken on their new roles, the mother eagle will be spending almost all her time in the nest protecting the chicks and the father will be the food provider. Many biologists say that this is why the female is bigger -- she's the one who is in charge of chick protection, and the father is smaller because he must go out and do the flying and hunting/fishing. Once the chicks are bigger, the mother will begin hunting again.

The new chicks will be sluggish for a couple days as the hatching process is very exhausting. For the first couple days the chick is weak and helpless and has trouble raising its head. The father will bring more food, although the chicks will not be able to eat much of what he brings. The mother will continue to keep the chicks warm and protect them from the elements, from the sun, and from predators.

The chicks weigh about 3-4 ounces at birth but will grow to 9-15 pounds in about 3 months. Chicks stay in the nest for about 10-12 weeks, at which point they will be flying and will leave the nest. They will spend about 6 more weeks around the nest before they leave for good.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster